Managing Mennonite Memory: Goshen College, 1894-

(Third in a Series)

by Dennis Stoesz, Archivist

 

In the last column, I wrote about how East Goshen Mennonite Church is working with its congregational records (October 1998). In this column I review records management at Goshen College.

Record Schedules

The question that I am testing in this series of articles is whether a records schedule can be a useful tool for working with active, non-current and archival records. I have come across only one or two Mennonite organizations that use such schedules.

Currently, the Mennonite Church provides its boards and agencies with Guidelines for Retention and Disposition of Records (1989). Although it is a more general philosophical statement, it points to the heart of the matter in its opening paragraph:

Records are important. However, the long-range retention of all records is not important. Since not all records have equal value, discretion must be exercised in determining what records are retained, what records are destroyed, where records are located, who becomes the archivist for non-current records, and what are the archival functions.

My proposal is that creating such a records schedule would help managers decide which records are retained and which are destroyed. A schedule is basically a list of existing records. These records include a) those currently being used in the offices, b) those inactive files found in closets or in specified storage areas, and c) those permanent archival files found in a vault, or in an archives. Next to each sets of records on this list is the decision on how long these records are to be retained, 1-2 years, 3-10 years or permanently. The Guidelines document affirms my proposal: "the person in charge of records management at each institution needs to set up retention schedules for all materials based on the Guidelines

As one who works with older records, I tend to keep things. I have seen too many old and valuable records destroyed. In talking with someone recently who works at managing current files, I learned that she tended to throw things away. Too many records can become a burden, especially in this information age. So what would help us "keepers" and "throwers" to work together? I believe a records schedule would help govern both the retention and disposition of records.

At the fall meeting of the Society of Indiana Archivists, I tested the idea of using record schedules with four other archivists. The result was a tie: 2 - 2. Two archivists were in favor of such schedules, and were using them in their specific organizations. The other two archivists thought there were other ways to manage records. One pointed to the problem that offices did not use such schedules even if they were created. Another archivist said that a more general agreement with each organization that donated records to the archives was sufficient.

I broke the tie by voting in favor of using record schedules (this is, after all, what I am proposing!). The real test will come when we see how such schedules work. Will such schedules help us manage records through their life cycle from active use, to non-current status, to destruction or to their designation as permanent archival files? This is what I have called the 3-5 year experiment.

In what follows, I am giving you a window into how one organization, Goshen College, is currently working with its records.

Survey of Goshen College's Records

In 1990, John D. Roth, Director of the Mennonite Historical Library, asked a history practicum student, Steve Nolt, to survey the college's records. It was timely since Goshen College was preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 1994.

Nolt identified records at three different locations: a) Mennonite Historical Library, 174 sets of records; b) Union Building Basement, 168 sets of records; and c) Archives of the Mennonite Church, Newcomer Center, 176 sets of records. Nolt also identified 24 artifacts in the Mennonite Museum Committee's collection. In addition, 23 sets of older records were also housed in 15-20 different departments on campus.

Nolt's concluded that "the school needs to ... plan for archival storage for Goshen College's second century." While the holdings at the Mennonite Historical Library and the Archives of the Mennonite Church were clearly identified, the biggest need focussed on the materials housed in the Union basement.

The Union Basement, 1948-82

The basement of the Union Building was first designated as a "Temporary Archives for Goshen College" in 1948. The Union had just been built, and the college wanted to establish a more permanent place for its non-current records. The initiative came from Business Manager C. L. Graber, and two faculty members, John Umble and Guy F. Hershberger. Before this the records had been stored in the old railway sub-station.

This repository was to be a place "to receive ... all materials no longer currently needed in the official files of Goshen College faculty and officers." Curator Nelson Springer, now retired from the Mennonite Historical Library did much of the cataloging.

The minutes of that 1948 meeting also state that it be "a fixed policy to destroy nothing in the official files of the College faculty and officers, and that when any material is no longer needed it be turned over to the temporary archives". After the materials were transferred to the basement and identified, decisions would be made about their final retention and disposition.

Two rooms in the Union basement came to be designated for specific offices. Room A housed the papers from the President's Office, Dean's Office, College Relations, and Teacher Education Department. Room B housed records from the Business Office, Personnel Office, Registrar's Office, and the Bookstore.

After several decades, these two rooms were full and overflowing. By the early 1980s, an Ad Hoc Committee Concerning Archival Storage and Space was set up to respond to this situation. Under the guidance of Provost John A. Lapp, Chairman Kenneth King, and Business Manager J. Robert Kreider, it was decided that the President's papers be moved to the Archives of the Mennonite Church, in Newcomer Center. This included the papers of presidents from Noah E. Byers (1903-1913) to J. L. Burkholder (1903-1982). Once transferred, Archivist Leonard Gross took the initiative to have the early presidential papers organized and listed. By the 1990s, however, the two rooms were again full and overflowing, and something needed to be done.

Vice President for Finance / Business Manager

Organizations look to different officers for managing their records. In the case of Goshen College, it has been the Business Manager. Today that officer is James Histand, Vice President for Finance. Other persons who have occupied this position are C. L. Graber (1924-27, 1933-49), Leland Bachman (1949-57), Ralph Gunden (1957-70), J. Robert Kreider (1971-86) and Mardene Kelley (1988-1997).

 

During the 1990s Business Manager Mardene Kelley took steps to deal with the accumulation of records in the Union basement. When Jim Histand came into the office in 1997, he implemented the building additional shelving in the middle part of the basement. This new shelving more than doubled the space available.

Summer Project, 1998, Union Basement Archives

With the new shelving in place, Histand hired Rachel Rupright in the spring of 1998 to bring some order to the records. Rupright had seen the need for this when she worked as an Administrative Assistant to the President, and had transferred inactive president's records to the Union basement.

Rupright worked throughout the summer to identify the various sets of records. One goal was to establish a connection between the records and the department that had placed them. Another goal of the project was to designate specific shelf space for each department. This was to counteract the general feeling that the Union basement was not a place one would want to visit.

In the fall 1998, Histand reported that not only was the Union basement organized, but that each administrative and academic department on campus would be given space for nine boxes of materials. The shelves were built so that three two-foot banker boxes could fit on each shelf.

Histand also raised several good questions: "How should departments regularize their archival processes? What are the kinds of things that should be kept in that space? What kinds of things should be either destroyed, not kept at all, or culled out after a period of time? And how long should stuff be kept in the Union basement before it is transferred to the Archives of the Mennonite Church?"

My general answer to Histand's questions is to point to the use of a records schedule. The first step would be for each office to list its records as found a) in their offices, b) in the Union basement, and c) at the Archives.

The second step would be to go over this listing, and make decisions about what records can be destroyed and what records should be kept for the long term. Part of this answer includes having someone work with each department on such a schedule. Another part is for someone to work with the records during their inactive stage in the Union basement.

John S. Umble Center and Other Departments

Even though the Union basement was the central repository for the college's older records, some departments stored inactive records in their offices. One example is the Communication and Theater Department.

In the summer of 1996, Gerald Pauls, Technical Director and House Manager of the John S. Umble Center, asked me what to do with all the old boxes of records he had found in the orchestra pit. After examining a few items from the pile of 20-30 banker boxes, I concluded they were the official files of this department. These records dated back to the time when Roy H. Umble served as Professor of Communication, 1946-1983.

I suggested that a first step would be to identify the dates and series of records found in the boxes. This initial survey would provide handles on how to tackle this mound of material. The files could then be transferred into new two-foot banker boxes.

Pauls picked up this work again in spring 1999. This time he had the help of Alfred J. Albrecht, who served as Professor of Communication at the College from 1964-1987. Albrecht was concerned that the history of this department be preserved and known. He also brought a keen interest and knowledge to the task.

Records from several other departments and programs have also been identified: the Center for Discipleship, 1962-1982; Division of Nursing, 1954-1997; English Department, 1930-70; Hispanic Ministries, 1979-90; Home Economics Department, 1926-1988; Information Technology Services - Media, 1950s-1990s; Lecture-Music Series, 1905-1985; Music Department; Peace Society, 1935-1981; Peace Studies Program, 1970-97; Public Relations, 1940s-1990s; Student Development Division, 1944-1974; Student Organizations; Women's Studies Program, 1975-98; and the Weather Station, 1915-1998.

Mennonite Historical Library and Archives of the Mennonite Church

Steve Nolt's 1990 survey also identified two other places on campus that contained historical materials.
Nolt identified 174 sets of material at the Mennonite Historical Library, which is located on the third floor of the Good Library. Rather than listing the books which were published by the college or contained information about the College, he concentrated on a) the published periodicals that the college has produced since 1894, b) the vertical files of items collected by the library, and c) the photograph collection. Also included were the artifacts in the Museum Collection, housed at the Historical Library.

At the Archives of the Mennonite Church, located in the Newcomer Center, Nolt identified 176 sets of materials: personal papers of 19 persons, who had taught or were students at the college; 14 photograph collections; many historical sound recordings; artifacts; official records of the college, such as the Elkhart Institute Collection, 1894-1903; the Presidential Papers, 1903-1982; Faculty Minutes, 1901-1981; Board of Overseers; Building Committees; etc.

Although quite a few of the college's historical records have ended up at the Historical Library or the Archives of the Mennonite Church, the impetus for managing the college's active and non-current records rests with the college's administration.

Electronic Records

One of the newest developments at the college has been to tackle the question of how an organization archives its electronic records. The initiative came from Nancy J. Miller, Assistant to the Academic Dean, in 1998 when she requested that all official minutes of committees be sent to her by electronic mail. Academic Dean Paul Keim asked, "why work in both the paper and electronic medium?" This department is committed to work in the electronic medium as much as possible. Nancy said there has been a good response to her request.

Through the efforts of Curator Joe Springer of the Mennonite Historical Library, the use of electronic records was discussed at a special ad hoc meeting in September 1998. After hearing the report from the Academic Dean's office, the next question was "how do we archive these computer files which contain the official minutes of committees?" Keim wondered if there wasn't a place where they could "once a year dump all the electronic files."

Michael Sherer, Director of the Information Technology Services, indicated that the up-and-coming medium was the World Wide Web. It would be fairly easy to establish a centralized archival site on the web server, which could be called "archives.goshen.edu".

This archival site could be managed in such a way that departments could continue to access their "inactive computer files". Each department's files would remain restricted to that department until the records had become archival, maybe 10-30 years down the road. The records that have been marked "archival" could be transferred to the public archives section of the web server, where they could be accessed. The computer data at this site would be migrated into newer software and hardware when they become available, so the information would continue to be preserved.

Sherer also talked about the new "mennonite.net" site on the web, which serves over a 1,000 Mennonite congregations. In addition to the college, congregations can also archive electronic documents.
John E. Sharp, Director of the Historical Committee and Archives of the Mennonite Church, indicated that the archives is committed to working at this question of archiving electronic records. The Historical Committee is currently raising funds to place older historical documents on the web, so that researchers will have direct access to them.

I have to confess that this computer language and technology is new to me. The question of "managing files", however, seems to be similar to working with paper records, photographs, tapes and artifacts. Having an archives site on the web actually reminds me of what the Goshen College archives committee decided back in 1948 when they established a centralized archives place in Union basement. I am sure that committee could not imagine that 50 years later the college would consider a centralized electronic archives site. Nor that this site would also be located in the Union basement.

Conclusions

I hope I have been able to provide you with a window into Goshen College's record management. As I wrote the article, I felt that I was sometimes a participant and sometimes an observer. I am sure the participant part comes out of my excitement at seeing the college move ahead on various fronts, and from my desire to test the idea of using a records schedule.

What are some of your experiences in working with records in your organization, committee or board? Do you have suggestions or answers to the questions that have been raised in this article? I hope to continue this discussion in the October 1999 issue of the Mennonite Historical Bulletin.

 

Mennonite Historical Bulletin, April 1999